Susan McKeown - Bushes & Briars

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Free Music Notes for Bushes & Briars

Free Music Review: Traditional Irish songs from a great voice
Hit: 5 Stars

The title track not only refers to the ones the protagonist goes through to enjoy hearing the birds sing but the bushes and briars that exist in the heart and between the gender roles: "But if I should go unto my love/my love he may say nay/if i show to him my boldness/he'll ne'er love me again."

McKeown began her set by singing the a capella "Bonny Boy" that truly demonstrated her vocal power. Then, before launching into the mid-paced "In London So Fair," she explained the maritime transvestism that went on, of women wishing a better life and seeking a life of adventure by disguising themselves as men. Well, one woman does such a thing to be with her man in this story song, even sharing the same cabin with her man until one day, he says "You're like a lover of mine... I left on the shore long ago." She then reveals herself, they get married, and they spend the rest of their lives travelling over the sea. Those were the only two songs from this album she sang live, the rest of which is stunning.

"H-O Abha-inn" is a lullaby, complete with Uileann pipes and bodhran that has a mid-paced rocking melody.

The harmonic drone of the tambura and a tabla permeate in "The Mountain Streams Where The Moorcocks Crow" of a roving man who meets a charming woman. She refuses his offer of courtship, but he promises that maybe they'll meet again some other time and things will be different.

The quiet and softly melodic "Banks Of Claudy" sounds just like something out of a fable, of a man (sung in the first person) who meets a woman looking for her lover Johnny, whom he knows as undependable and tells her his ship was wrecked on Spain. The woman still vows to hunt for him no matter what. But what a punchline! One of the standout cuts.

Another quiet guitar number "Craigie Hill" tells of the American emigration the Irish underwent after losing their land. The title place is what the immigrant is saying farewell to.

McKeown discovered "A Mhaire Bhruinneall" from a Clannad recording. Sung in Celtic, the repeated refrain highlights unrequited love: "You killed me forever/you weakened me entirely/and all alive to me/you broke my heart." This upbeat drum and guitar number is quite a contrast to the haunting "Donal Og."

One will get a bit of Irish history in the acoustic guitar ballad "After Aughrim", where Irish Catholics were crushed at Aughrim in 1691 by a host of Protestant forces including their own people. The survivors fled to France, still a Catholic country under Louis XIV. The final verse has the exiles someday wishing to stage another comeback against the Protestants.

As I learned in her concert, McKeown keeps searching for traditional Irish songs as a part of her heritage, and given this collection, she's done herself proud.

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